Intel delays production of Broadwell chips

Intel has just confirmed that its upcoming Broadwell PC chips would be facing a production delay of up to 3 months.

Speaking during a call discussing the company’s third-quarter earnings, CEO Brian Krzanich said Intel will begin production on Broadwell in the first quarter of 2014 instead of later this year. In other words, this implies that the delay would be a quarter later than originally expected.

The delay has been caused by a “defect density issue” that has an adverse effect on yields, Krzanich said. He noted that once defects are pointed out, Intel inserts a set of fixes. In the case of Broadwell, the fixes didn’t deliver the improvements Intel had anticipated. However, Krzanich said that Intel now believes all the required fixes are in place.

Krzanich further added that this delay won’t affect the production of Skylake, the PC chip to follow Broadwell.

This would be the first chip to be manufactured at 14nm, which puts Intel, at the very least, an entire year ahead of its rivals. It aims to raise the bar in terms of energy efficiency and TDP. It’ would be a significant leap for tablet PC.